The term History Play is commonly used to denote the plays (whether tragedies or comedies) in which the action and the major themes of the play are primarily political rather than individual or social. Though Shakespeare did not distinguish between the genres of his plays, when the collected works of Shakespeare was published by his own colleagues in the Chamberlain's- King's company as the First Folio in 1623, the plays, the editors divided them into Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. Though some historical plays show the characteristics of tragedy or comedy, they are different from the regular tragedies and comedies in that they deal only with political matters without straying into other social or metaphysical matters. Thus only the political dimensions of the actions and relationships alone are presented.

Shakespeare wrote ten plays dealing English history and four with Roman history. Though the Roman plays can also be included under...